The Angel Story

Patrizia Durante was diagnosed with leukemia when she was 27 weeks into her first pregnancy. Prior to the delivery of her baby, she had the foresight to ask her doctors to collect and store her child’s umbilical cord blood.

After radiation and chemotherapy treatments, Patrizia’s leukemia returned. She needed a stem cell transplant. A fifteen-minute intravenous (IV) transfusion of her baby’s cord blood stem cells was all it took. Within several weeks, her blood showed signs of improvement. Patrizia is now cured and her daughter, Victoria Angel, is a happy and healthy girl.

To honour this remarkable family, Dr. Michael Virro and his wife, Jane, founded a public cord blood bank and named it Victoria Angel Registry of Hope.

“I gave life to my baby and she gave life back to me.”

Patrizia Durante